


High Hopes Oh Rook Come ON

by Goldstone_Wolf



Series: High Hopes Low (Blank) [39]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), High Hopes Low Rolls (Web Series)
Genre: Again, Asphyxiation, Broken Bones, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Malark is Angsty at the End, Near Death, Other, Paddy gets hurt, Rook almost kills everyone with a plant, aka Rook tries to use everyone as guinea pigs for a spell, aka choking, bones breaking is desribed, but not that way, ish, vicious plant things, well it depends on which way you're thinking i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldstone_Wolf/pseuds/Goldstone_Wolf
Summary: Rook uses the rest of High Hopes as guinea pigs for his latest spell.Now, Paddy isn’t a wizard, but he’s pretty sure that making an evil plant was not Rook’s plan.
Relationships: Ehhhh don;t ask me i spent eight hours writing these
Series: High Hopes Low (Blank) [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692196
Kudos: 10





	High Hopes Oh Rook Come ON

**Author's Note:**

> More of the “backlog” from when I was absent. This is going to be fun.  
> Anyways, let’s begin!

“Rook, if this is what you planned— _this sucks!”_

Rook shot his girlfriend a look somewhere between worried, panicked, and understanding. “I know! I don’t know what happened, just give me some time!”

A massive vine whipped forwards, and Paddy barely had the time to roll forwards before it smashed into the tower above his head. Glancing at Malark, he noticed the assassin was calculating everything carefully from his perch above everyone. Nagar and Gimgar were running in without a care in the world, Torlin watching Rook’s back as best she could. A vine snapped towards her ankle and Gwing loosed an arrow towards it, striking with ease. “Thanks, Gwing!” Torlin yelled, and the half elf nodded once and turned back to the fight.

Jumping forwards, Paddy sent a blast of magic at where the thing’s roots dug into the wood plank floor of the tower. It shrieked, the ground quaking beneath them, and Paddy rolled back right in time. Another vine, this one covered in spiky orange thorns, surged up until it hit the ceiling. Bits of stone brick scattered down around them. Malark jumped into the fight, slashing through one of the tendrils with ease. Green goop spattered everywhere, and Malark let out a pained yell as it hit his arm. “Watch out—looks like it has acid for blood!” Gwing shouted the warning to everyone else as she jumped for a better vantage point.

Meanwhile, Rook frantically worked at where he had started doing the spell in the first place, mumbling to himself as he grabbed items and threw them around just a little too carelessly. According to him, this was meant to be something that upped their strength. This was not what Paddy had thought the wizard had meant. He was jolted out of his thoughts when one of Malark’s blades whipped by his face, almost skimming the tip of his nose. As it moved, it impaled one of the vine tendrils to the wall behind Paddy.

“Whitlaw, pay attention!” The assassin snarled, and Paddy turned to look at him.

“Sorry!”

Malark scoffed, and Gwing was the one who replied. “Then pay attention! It’d be nice not to have someone _die_ on us! And _where is Ava?”_

“Right here!” The green-haired dwarf appeared underneath one of the plant’s vines. As she struggled to get away, it wrapped around her. It wasn’t trying to kill her, though, Giggling, she added, “I think it likes me.”

Gwing sighed. “That’s all very nice, love, but I think we have bigger problems. Rook, how’s that—whatever you’re doing coming?”

“I need some more time!”

“Whitlaw, on your six!” There was a rumble, and Paddy leapt backward. He felt something brush by under his back and had a brief moment of _oh shit_ before he was yanked to the side. A brief moment later, he was getting an unwanted close-up of the tower’s walls. Stone bricks slammed into his head with a nasty _crack_. “Paddy!”

Everything went black for a long moment.

When Paddy woke up, gravity was pulling down on his head. Groaning, he opened his eyes and realised that everything had flipped. Something was wrapped tight around his torso and right arm. The other was free, dangling above (or…under?) his head limply. “Paddy! Come on, you gotta wake up!” Gwing yelled. As he tilted his head back, he could see the carpet much farther beneath him than he would like. _That’s not good._

“Whitlaw!” That voice came from above him, but his ears started ringing too loudly for him to make out who had said it. All he could guess was that it was either Rook or Malark, since Nagar was currently screaming his head off with Gimgar as they attacked the roots of the plant thing. “Come on, Whitlaw, open your eyes! Paddock!”

The plant shrieked again, and Paddy felt its grip tighten around his chest and arm. Somewhere in his wrist, there was a sickening series of _cracks_ and _crunches. Oh, that’s_ really _not good._ Paddy mused, wincing when the plant grabbed him even tighter. There was another shout, and the plant trembled rapidly. “…he?”

Someone’s weight pressed down on his legs for a second, and then the plant started writhing again. “Keep it steady down there! Ava!” There was a burst of noise, cracking stone and creaking plants, and Paddy felt the beast wrapped around him still. Fingers touched his face, rough calloused tips brushing his cheek. “Whitlaw, come on. Open your eyes. Whitlaw. Paddock.” There was a growl, and the plant squeezed Paddy again. “Paddy, you need to open your eyes. I can’t help you if you can’t help me, okay? Paddy? Can you hear me?”

Swallowing, Paddy let out a groan and tried to crack his eyes open like they’d asked him. He was so _tired_ …surely it wouldn’t hurt if he took a little bit of a nap. Right? He could sleep… _no, you can’t. You won’t wake up again._

His ribs creaked under the pressure they were under, and he sucked in as big of a breath as he could. Even opening his eyes was an annoyingly difficult task, and a gasp of pain tore its way from his throat as a _thud-pop_ echoed deeper in his body. “M—Mal—ark?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Come on, you’re gonna be fine.” Nodding weakly, Paddy forced his eyes open. Malark was right in front of him, balanced precariously on one of Ava’s plant’s tendrils. Reaching up, he began sawing at the vines wrapped around Paddy’s body. As he did, the plant tightened.

“Mal—Mal, hold on, you gotta—” Gritting his teeth, Paddy bit back a scream as the vine broke more of his ribs. Jerking, he sucked in a few breaths and winced painfully. “Malark, please.”

“I know, I know. Just shut up and let me focus.” Another rib cracked, and Paddy felt unconsciousness grabbing at him again. “No, no, come on—wake up, you’re not dying here.” Malark began slapping his face, and Paddy cracked his eyes open again as another _thud-pop_ rattled his chest. “Come on, Paddy, just talk to me. About anything, I don’t care, just keep talking and stay awake.”

“Shut up, talk to you…make up your mind, Dundragon.” Paddy teased, and he swore he heard Malark scoff again. His stomach was rolling, and Paddy groaned as he looked down at the ground. All the blood was rushing to his head. “I think I’m going to hurl. Or pass out. Maybe both.”

“First is fine, definitely don’t on the second, Paddy.” Growling, Malark let out a cut-off snarl as he cut one of his fingers with his knife. _He must be stressed—about what? He’s fine._ Tilting his head, Paddy wavered to the side, and Malark pressed his shoulder to Paddy’s own. “Try not to move too much, I don’t want to stab you by accident.” Nodding, Paddy rested his head on Malark’s arm, sighing and closing his eyes before remembering that he’d been told not to.

“Mal—Malark, it’s…it’s getting really hard to…breathe.” Black spots swirled in his vision, and he could feel his heartbeat in his throat. Something felt wrong with it. “Mal…”

“I know, I know, I just need a couple more seconds and then everything’s going to be fine, okay? Paddy?” Blinking, Paddy tried his best to nod as everything faded in and out. “Pad—”

_“Come on, Paddy, you gotta wake up. Open your eyes, please.”_

_“Rook, I think he’s really bad.”_

_“What the hell is wrong with you, wizard? Why didn’t you—”_

_“Malark! That’s enough—”_

_“He almost killed all of us!”_

_“This isn’t helping Paddy, so shut up and help me move him!”_

Groaning, Paddy cracked open his eyes as much as he could. Bright light shone down into his face, and he was lying in the back of something. If he had to guess, it was some sort of cart, judging by the way it rocked from side to side. His head was in someone’s lap, and their fingers rested on his forehead, brushing his hair away every so often.

In the front of the wagon, Malark was staring out across the forest in front of them with a distinct frown on his face. His icy eyes were narrowed, staring out at the world like he blamed it for every problem he had. _It’s okay, Malark. Everything’s fine._ Paddy paused, then mused, _Well, I’m not dead. You don’t have to worry._

Coughing, he did his best to try and look up. He was splayed across the middle of the wagon, some packs littered around him. Sitting behind him, the person with her fingers was none other than Torlin. She was humming something softly, green eyes closed and sunny hair haloed by the sun behind her. As his vision and strength slowly returned, Paddy shifted a little bit. Immediately, Torlin opened her eyes and looked down. “Paddy! You’re up!”

Everyone turned to look at him, and Paddy waved and then immediately regretted it. His wrist and ribs were bandaged, both aching like he knew they would but not as badly as he’d feared. If he’d had to guess, that was Torlin’s doing. “H-hey, guys. So…what happened with the plant?”

As everyone started talking animatedly, going through more and more ridiculous versions of what they had done after he’d blacked out, Paddy noticed Malark glaring at the ground. Getting up, he hopped out of the cart and disappeared from Paddy’s sight. In his chest, Paddy’s heart clenched just a little bit, and he struggled upright as best he could.

He was just in time to see Malark disappear into the woods, and knowing that the assassin would come back eventually didn’t help the sinking feeling in his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> When I said it would be fun, I never said it would be fun for High Hopes.  
> Anyways, I’m procrastinating on a couple other projects of mine, but before I keep writing the other fics that will be published today (all six of them, with more tomorrow because my youth group is trying to hold a sorry excuse for the camp we normally do over the weekend—ugh), I’m going to go get something to eat. See you in the next fic!  
> Y’all are loved and appreciated and awesome and amazing and I hope you have a great day! Now, into the fray once more!


End file.
